Women in Ministry (1 Tim 2:8-15)

Welcome and Announcements

Saturday at 11am, Ladies’ Cookie Baking Extravaganza—if you’re available to help, please let Natalie know so she knows who all to expect; and if you have any questions about it, please feel free to talk with her this evening.

Don’t forget, our service schedule for the next few weeks is different—you’ll see it posted in every worship guide until the end of the year, on Facebook, and on the screens. I’ll do my best to remind you of what’s different each week so that you don’t find yourself here when we aren’t here:

For this coming week, please know that (1) we have discipleship groups at 9am on Sunday, morning worship at 10:30am.

There will be no Bible Study & Prayer this coming Wednesday, but please join us Saturday, December 24th for our annual Carols & Lessons at 7pm

The service is about an hour long and we’ll be reading through the Christmas account in Scripture with carols interspersed between each passage.

After the service, we’ll have desserts in the Activity Room—this is a great opportunity for those of you that have an amazing dessert recipe from your great aunt Meredith to whip it together and bring it for everyone to enjoy.

Sunday is a normal Sunday, but there is no Wednesday—join us for a Christmas Eve service at 7pm instead.

Be aware that we have a quarterly business meeting after Sunday AM Worship on January 1st.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.giving.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Preaching of God’s Word (1 Tim 2:8-15)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to 1 Timothy 2:8-15.

We started working through 1 Timothy 2 last week, but if you remember from last week, I intentionally chose not to because of how misused the second half of this passage of Scripture is.

This passage is a difficult passage; and because of its difficulty, it has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misrepresented. Many people have utilized this verse to make the argument that women are of lesser value than men in the church and that women are almost like a secondary class of believers within the church. Others have utilized this passage to claim that women ought not even speak in a church setting and some cult leaders have utilized this passage in nefarious ways to fulfill their own lustful desires.

The sinful ways that people have misinterpreted this passage are the reasons why I chose to separate this section of the passage from last week’s passage, but I want to make it abundantly clear that this passage connects with last week’s passage and even the next section of passages in that it speaks of proper worship of the Lord in a church setting—in other words, we can’t isolate this passage, when we do, we get the messed up interpretations that I’ve already mentioned. We must understand this text in light of its direct context and really, in light of the context of the Bible.

Keep this in mind as we read 1 Tim 2:8-15 together.

1 Timothy 2:8–15 ESV

8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into three sections: (1) The Connection to Proper Worship (8), which will recap last week’s message and help us see this week’s passage in context, (2) The Need of Good Works (9-10), and (3) Roles within the Church (11-15). As Paul continues in this letter by speaking about proper worship of the Lord within the church context, we’ll learn a bit of not just how women should serve in a church, but even how men ought to serve in the church as well. This evening, we’ll see some of how God has set up His church and we’ll see both the importance of good works and the need of biblically qualified people serving within the church.

Prayer for Illumination

The Connection to Proper Worship (8)

Remember my encouragement that no passage of Scripture stands in isolation

Meaning there is a context to keep in mind.

In this case, the context started in 1:1-11 with a warning against false teachers.

It continued with a reminder of the Gospel in 1:12-20

And it shifted in 2:1-7 with an encouragement to pray for all people.

Or if I could put it a different way:

Paul is confronting false teaching by rejecting the teaching of false teachers—what shouldn’t be taught.

Reminding them of the actual Gospel of Jesus Christ—what should be taught.

And now, he’s exhorting them to return to what true corporate worship of God looks like—how things ought to be in light of the Gospel; and really, in light of the whole counsel of God.

Now, if you paid close attention last week, you’ll notice that I’m continuing in this week by looking at a verse that we already looked at last week. V. 8 says, “I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.”

I’m bringing this verse back up for two reasons:

First, you’ll notice that vv. 9-10 is a continuation of the sentence in v. 8—meaning if we don’t study through v. 8 again, we’re going to start vv. 9-10 in the middle of a sentence, which won’t give us a full understanding of the text.

Second, by understanding that v. 8 connects with vv. 9-10, we’ll have a better understanding of vv. 11-15 and even vv. 1-7.

No passage of Scripture stands in isolation.

And in this context, we read about proper worship within a local church setting.

V. 8 starts this concept by encouraging men in every place or in every local church to pray by lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.

Remember, last week I pointed out that the idea of “lifting holy hands” does not concern a physical posture in which the individual ought to pray with his hands raised, but rather a way of life—it’s speaking of a spiritual posture in prayer.

Every man and really every person who prays within a local church ought to do it in full surrender—hands lifted.

And they are to pray with holy hands—referring to clean hands that have been cleansed from unrighteousness.

This ought to be done without anger or quarreling, which might sound like an unusual thing to say when talking about the local church, but again, remember the context.

Ch. 1 speaks of false teachers who have infiltrated the church and has taught a doctrine contrary to that of the apostles and really of Jesus.

It isn’t until ch. 6, however, when we see a more detailed accusation against the false teachers. In ch. 6, we read about the false teachers’ unhealthy craving for controversy and quarrels about words—or put differently, they were picking apart the Scriptures to make the Bible say what they wanted it to say.

Instead of preaching and teaching what the text actually said, they preached and they taught what they wanted it to say.

Which according to 1 Timothy 6:4-5, “[produced] envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who were depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.”

They are to pray this way with clean hands that have been cleansed in full surrender to God; and in context, according to vv. 1-4 not just for Christians to be able to live out their faiths in a mostly safe and free manner, but primarily for all people to be saved and to attain knowledge of the truth.

The reminder in v. 8 that starts the second part of this passage is simple—when in corporate worship as a local church, men (and really everyone in the local church) need to focus on prayer and this prayer needs to be for all people—particularly concerning their salvation. And this is to be done without anger and without quarreling. Paul then continues this sentence—and note that it is a continuation of the same sentence with vv. 9-10.

The Need of Good Works (9-10)

1 Timothy 2:9–10 ESV

9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

Paul’s exhortation particularly for women in the church of Ephesus starts with proper attire, which in our modern-day world seems like a faux pas, but let’s look at what Paul is actually stating.

In v. 9, Paul speaks specifically of clothing and he tells the women in Ephesus to “adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control.”

And I do want to say there is a bit of cultural awareness at stake when understanding this verse—we can tell that we need to have a good understanding of our culture because of the next phrase, “not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire.”

In our modern-day world, having braided hair and gold or pearls isn’t seen in the same light as in the first century. In fact, many people today wear gold on their ring finger everyday and many women braid their hair (though there is some debate as to what this passage means by braided hair—some argue that this refers to the practice of braiding your hair and implementing gems, gold, silver, and other precious elements into your hair).

Culturally speaking, in our modern world, it’s common for women to have gold, sometimes pearls, and braided hair—and really these elements aren’t necessarily the problem in Paul’s mind.

Rather, in the culture of Ephesus, having gold, pearls, braided hair, and costly attire was definitely a symbol of extreme wealth—the majority of people in Ephesus were just barely getting by.

It was only those with extreme wealth that could afford wearing any type of gold, or any type of pearl, or any time of clothing of great cost.

It isn’t that these people had these sorts of things, it’s that the women of Ephesus utilized these things to flaunt how much money they had—or in other words, they were coming to church—dressed in gaudy and expensive clothing for the purpose of detracting everyone’s attention from Jesus to themselves.

They wanted people to notice them and they were doing this within the church, which became a distraction to those around them—they were cultivating vanity rather than godliness.

Thomas Lea and Hayne Griffin, “The fact that some Christian women could afford gold or pearls indicates that the Ephesian church had some members of substantial wealth (cf. 1 Cor 1:26-28). Acceptable standards of modesty will vary with place and generation, but Paul wanted the women to cultivate the fear of God rather than vanity.” (Thomas Lea and Hayne Griffin, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 96)

In our modern-day world because we live in a very wealthy country, we have to contextualize what this looks like.

It’s no longer unusual for just about everyone to own a little bit of gold, maybe pearls, or decent quality clothes.

And quite frankly, there isn’t anything wrong with owning something that is expensive if you can afford to own it—there’s a big difference between having a Rolex because you run a successful business and can afford it and taking out a loan to buy a Rolex as a status symbol.

The point at hand in 1 Timothy 2 has to do with motive—are you flaunting your wealth? Are you showing off? Are you taking people’s view off Jesus to put it on yourself?

The reality that Paul is expressing in 1 Timothy 2 is that flaunting wealth or really flaunting yourself isn’t the pointing of worship in a church.

The local church isn’t about you—and to use the local church as a platform to boast of yourself isn’t proper worship.

This is what Paul is writing about the women in Ephesus—to use the local church as a platform to boast in their wealth goes against the very purpose of the local church—to worship Jesus.

Instead of worshiping Jesus, they’re worshiping money; instead of worshiping Jesus, they’re worshiping status and reputation; instead of worshiping Jesus, they’re worshiping themselves.

They’re falling into the sins that Paul mentions to the Romans in Romans 1:21-23 “21 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

They’re worshiping the creation rather than the Creator.

What’s the problem with how the women in Ephesus are dressing? They’re utilizing their clothes, their jewelry, and even their hair to show off, to flaunt their wealth, and ultimately to distract the people from worshiping Jesus. And Paul responds to this by exhorting them to instead dress differently—he says it in two ways: (1) in v. 9, “women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control and (2) in v. 10, to adorn themselves “with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.”

And please note, that in vv. 9-10, even though it is directed at women the same principles apply to men as well.

Even though Paul is speaking directly about how women in Ephesus dress, that doesn’t give an excuse for men to dress immodestly with no self-control. Just because Paul is speaking directly about women adorning themselves with good works; it doesn’t mean that men ought not adorn themselves with good works as well.

Paul is confronting a specific problem in the church of Ephesus, but again, the same principles of modesty, self-control, and good works apply to men as well.

Now, of course, these ideas have to be contextualized again. Because what was considered modest in the first century might not be considered modest today and the reality is that what was considered modest one hundred years ago, isn’t really seen in the same light as it was 100 years ago.

And I absolutely refuse to give specifics when it comes to modest clothing because Scripture doesn’t really give specifics—so, let me leave it at this.

Modest clothing is whatever makes you feel comfortable that doesn’t unnecessarily distract people around you—this is an instance where your conscience has to help you make the decision of what is right.

I’m going to trust that we all have some sense of what that means without having to slip into legalism; and again, the same principles of modesty apply to men just as much as to women.

Women should adorn themselves modestly with self-control, but there’s something of greater note in v. 10, that they ought to adorn themselves with good works.

What is Paul getting at? It’s actually quite simple—the women in Ephesus were more concerned with how they looked and how people thought of them—to the extent that they spent all their time worrying about clothing, jewelry, and hair that they’ve neglected the truth that genuine faith results in good work.

Paul is pointing out the fact that they need to stop focusing on outward appearance and focus on internalizing the Gospel and allowing the Gospel to work in them in such a way that they do good work.

It isn’t so much about clothing or jewelry as it is about making sure that they actually understand the Gospel well enough to be motivated to love and good works.

Or put a different way, it really doesn’t matter how rich you are—if you have really nice clothes, gold, silver, and fancy hair. It doesn’t really matter if you high up on the socio-economic ladder. What matters is that you understand the Gospel well enough, that you believe it, and that it motivates you to do good work.

Donald Guthrie explains it like this, “Paul hastes to add that women are not denied all adornment, but the greatest asset a woman possesses is a devout and godly life . . . a woman’s adornment, in short, lies not in what she herself puts on, but in the loving service gives out.” (Donald Guthrie, Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 14:89)

Which then leads us to the complicated part of tonight’s passage. Let’s re-read vv. 11-15 and let me encourage you as we read it, for you to reject any preconceived notion you might have about these verses and let’s read what the text says and relate it to other Scriptures.

Roles within the Church (11-15)

1 Timothy 2:11–15 ESV

11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

In our modern-day world, the first two verses present a problem. We live in a world that emphasizes women’s rights and most progressive Christians, liberal Christians, and unbelievers would read these verses and argue that the Bible is hateful towards women and that God is repressive.

Part of that has to do with how people who are hateful and repressive towards women misuse these verses:

For instance, they would read this and make the argument that women cannot speak at all in church—they can’t read Scripture out loud, they can’t pray out loud, and they can’t participate audibly in a church service.

Some would then misuse this and apply it to their home as well. After all, the text says that they are to be submissive and quiet.

It doesn’t help that those who follow this mindset know just enough about the Bible to take another passage out of context, they’ll take 1 Cor 14:33-35 completely out of context as well. “As in all the churches of the saints. 34 The women are to keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. 35 But if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church.”

The issue is that that isn’t what the text says at all.

Vv. 11-12 do mention the idea of women learning quietly with all submissiveness, but the idea of remaining quietly with submissiveness isn’t complete silence with no ability to speak whatsoever.

We know that because of 1 Corinthians 11:5 “5 But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying, shames her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.”

To clarify, to prophesy in this context means to bring forth new revelation from God—as in, God told them to say something.

And as you know, God’s canon of Scripture closed with the completion of the New Testament, which means that no one prophesies in this same manner—no woman prophesies and no man prophesies in this way.

However, I would argue that one way that we experience something similar to this concept is by the reading of Scripture during church services.

We bring forth God’s revelation by reading and re-reading His Word.

Or in other words, 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 cannot mean that women cannot speak during a church service nor does it mean that they must remain absolutely silent.

What Paul is describing isn’t complete and utter silence, but rather a teachable spirit—Paul is confronting women in the church who adorn themselves with gaudy and pretentious clothes who would then put themselves as the center of attention.

They would argue with the teachings of the elders, they would bring their own teachings instead, and they would essentially turn the church service into a debacle of themselves rather than a time of worship of God.

If you understand 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Cor 14 as complete, absolute prohibitions on women speaking during church services, then you make these two passages contradict 1 Cor 11:5, which means something is wrong with your interpretation because God cannot contradict himself.

And if your interpretation is incorrect, then you have to realign your interpretation with what Scripture teaches—so, what does it teach concerning women in a church service? It teaches us three things: (1) women have to be teachable, (2) women cannot teach men in church, and (3) women cannot have authority over men in church. Let’s break those ideas down.

Women have to be teachable—this is what is meant by women being quiet and submissive in a church. It isn’t that they cannot speak whatsoever, but rather, they need to be willing to learn; which by the way, men have be teachable as well. Men during services have to be quiet and submissive because they need to be teachable.

Again, the only reason Paul emphasizes women in this context is because of the context of Ephesus with women who make the church service all about themselves and contradict the genuine teaching of Scripture to place the attention on them.

But men also need to be teachable when it comes to learning the Word of God itself.

Women cannot teach men in a church setting—teaching in a church setting refers to the authoritative instruction of genuine Christian doctrine. Or in other words, the idea at hand is that women cannot be in a position in which they instruct men within the church setting.

This doesn’t mean that women cannot teach men elsewhere—for instance, think of Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila in Acts 18:24-26 “24 Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, arrived at Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”

Priscilla is a woman married to Aquila and she’s teaching Apollos, a man, true Christian doctrine—outside of the church setting.

The prohibition then is really just in a church worship setting—not in the home, not in academia, not anywhere else—in the church, women cannot teach men according to 1 Timothy 2:12, she is to remain with a teachable spirit.

And women cannot have authority over a man, again, in a church setting—meaning that within a church, authority is given to biblically qualified men, not women. We know that particularly because Paul makes this statement about women not having authority over men in churches and then he goes directly into describing those who do have authority in 1 Timothy 3, “The saying is trustworthy: if anyone aspires to the office of overseer [or elder or pastor], he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife.”

George Knight does point out that although many churches today have made the argument that just as long as you don’t call a woman a pastor, she can still teach, preach, and exercise authority, that’s simply not what the Greek text says, “Some have suggested that Paul is only ruling out teaching or exercise of authority apart from a man’s oversight” or put differently, women can do these things just as long as a pastor approves it, but “The insistence here on [silent learning] seems to rule out all these solutions.” (George Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992), 142)

Now, some have misused this concept and they make the argument that women shouldn’t be in politics, nor should they serve in authority roles within the community based on the idea that women shouldn’t have authority over men.

But again, that’s taking this verse completely out of context, it only speaks of the church. This prohibition is only in the church worship setting—not in academia, not in politics, not in a regular business.

Or to sum it all up, the reality, according to Paul, is that in the New Testament church, men are supposed to lead and women aren’t to usurp authority within the church and that includes teaching men within the church.

Again, note, that this is only within the church—to utilize these verses to support not allowing women to teach elsewhere or to have authority in other organizations simply goes against what this text teaches.

Now, most people when they hear that women cannot teach in churches nor can they exercise authority over men will ask the question “why?” Why does Scripture teach this, which is where vv. 13-14 come in, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

Paul utilizes the biblical history of creation from Genesis 2 as his reasoning for women not to teach or exercise authority in churches, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve.”

This isn’t the only time that Paul refers to the creation account as reasoning for man to lead in terms of the church, we see the same argument in 1 Corinthians 11:9.

And I do want to clarify that it isn’t necessarily the chronological order of creation alone that provides the reasoning for man to lead—proof to that is found in the fact that all the other animals were created before man and man is still to exercise dominion over creation.

The point that Paul is drawing out is that Adam and Even were made as a pair with Eve being a companion to Adam—the idea was that Adam and Eve were to complement one another, but because of the fall, God points out that there will be sinful desire of competition within the marriage context.

Gen 3:16, “To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

Why is it that women aren’t to teach men and exercise authority over men in a church setting? It’s simple; because that’s how God chose for the church to function based on the goal of a complementary lifestyle between men and women.

We see one more issue given in v. 14, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”

Paul’s secondary reason has to do with Eve being deceived and Adam not being deceived and many commentators and preachers have taken this to mean that women tend to be more gullible than men; but let’s be honest, from personal experience, most of us know that this is not true.

Both men and women are susceptible to deception and gullibility.

The point that Paul is making isn’t so much that Eve was deceived, but rather that Satan will always attack the order that God has created.

John Piper explains it like this, “Paul’s argumentation in 1 Timothy 2:11-14 is that men ought to bear primary responsibility for leadership and teaching in the church (that is, be the elders): Because in creating man first, God taught that men should take responsibility for leadership in relation to woman; and Because the fall of Adam and Eve shows that the neglect of this divine pattern puts men and women in a more vulnerable position and leads to transgression.” (John Piper, “Affirming the Goodness of Manhood and Womanhood in All of Life,” https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/affirming-the-goodness-of-manhood-and-womanhood-in-all-of-life)

Or in other words, God created Adam to lead Eve in a complementary fashion—Satan attacked that order.

God has chosen for biblically qualified men to lead His church in a complementary fashion—Satan constantly attacks this order.

It isn’t because man is better than woman or that God has given an unfair advantage to men—it’s simply that God has given biblically qualified men the responsibility or the role of leading His church.

Thus, men should lead; women should learn with a teachable spirit.

It doesn’t mean that women cannot get involved or read Scripture or pray out loud—it simply means that God created man and woman to be complementary; and in the church, this is how the complementary nature of man’s creation is revealed.

Now, here’s one problem and you might already be thinking it, what in the world does v. 15 mean? “Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Think of the context, the view of different roles within the church and then expand the idea of different roles beyond the church.

Think of the complementarian aspects of how God created man and woman; how God places husband and wife together.

Think of what God has said about how these roles function even in marriage, even in the home (like in Ephesians 5-6).

And now consider v. 15 with the understanding that there’s a bit of a figure of speech when it refers to childbearing. This is what’s called a synecdoche.

A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a word means the whole—so, for instance, if we talk about the Steelers, we know we’re talking about the collective team or even if we’re talking about the Scriptures we know that we’re referring to the collective 66 books of the Old and New Testaments.

Think of childbearing as a synecdoche of the whole experience of womanhood in life—childbearing, raising children, taking care of her family, being a helper fit for her husband.

It isn’t that this literally, spiritually saves the woman, it’s really more evidence for her salvation. Meaning, by accepting God’s ordained roles for marriage and in the church, it reveals true faith.

Denny Burk, “A wife’s fulfillment of this role will be one of the evidences of perseverance in the faith. Salvation is future in this verse: ‘She will be saved.’ Thus it is not entry into salvation that is in view but the future consummation of salvation. Women who embrace their God-ordained role while continuing in the Christian virtues of ‘faith and love and holiness, with self-control’ will find themselves saved on the last day.” (Denny Burk, “What Does It Mean that Women Will be Saved through Childbearing? (1 Timothy 2), https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-does-it-mean-that-women-will-be-saved-through-childbearing-1-timothy-2/)

When taken in conjunction with the previous two verses about Adam and Eve, the idea is that if Eve had taken her role seriously, the curse would have been avoided.

Jared August, “[Pauls’] presentation of this support is very fitting, and centers around Adam and Eve as examples to whom salvation was offered . . . Paul’s assertion is that salvation was offered to Eve through [the birth of one who would undo the curse], despite her violation of the ordained male/female roles. Had this couple adhered to the male/female roles from the beginning, the curse could have been avoided. However, in an unexpected twist, Paul reveals in 2:15 that even amidst Adam and Eve’s transgression, God was still working redemptively to bring about salvation through [the coming of Christ]. In turn, this serves to exhort Paul’s readers on two accounts: (1) they were to adhere to the ordained male/female roles, and (2) they were to rejoice in God’s salvation offered to all.” (Jared August, “What Must She Do to Be Saved? A Theological Analysis of 1 Timothy 2:15,” Themelios, 45:1)

Now, in the remaining few minutes, the question is, how do we apply this? And I think there are really two different ideas that are really present in these verses, but first, let me give you a summary of the text.

Application

What we see in 1 Timothy 2:8-15 is Paul encouraging proper worship within the church. In this instance, he’s concerned primarily with women who have utilized their clothing and their appearance to essentially make church all about them and he confronts the issue of women teaching and having authority in the church of Ephesus. Both of these issues apply almost identically to our modern-day church setting.

Let’s start with the idea that Good Work is more Important than Outward Appearance—we see this primarily in vv. 8-10 in which we read about women who adorn themselves in gold, with braided hair, costly clothes, and pearls.

Again, the idea isn’t that these things were necessarily wrong, but rather that they were being utilized as status symbols— “look at me, I’m so rich and wealthy; faun over me and my beauty.”

It is a sinful temptation of the flesh to go to church and want it to be all about you, your comfort, your clothes, your preferences; and not about Jesus.

And let me be abundantly clear, churches that choose to cater to the desires of the people rather than following the Word of God, aren’t worth being a part of—every time the culture changes the church will have to change to keep up.

Churches that seek to only bring in a young crowd will find that their church becomes one-sided.

Churches that seek to be the hip, new thing; will find that in a year or two, they aren’t so hip.

Churches that put the focus on man rather than God, will always find themselves chasing the next great thing.

Church isn’t about you, it’s about Jesus.

Thus, church isn’t about what you look like on the outside, but rather helping you grow spiritually so that your outwardly present good works as a result of your spiritual maturity.

Or in other words, it isn’t about looking like a great person or looking healthy and wealthy—it’s about being mutually built up and encouraged to love and good works.

Don’t come to church with the idea that you’re here to impress other people—come to church recognizing that you live for an audience of One—and that audience of One is more concerned with your heart than your gold, silver, or costly clothes.

You need to be sure that your heart is right; that spiritually, you’re growing in a way that’s reflected by good works; and that your life is all about Jesus, not about yourself.

That includes the way that you serve within the church—you need to Serve in the ways that God Demands—se see this in vv.11-15, which speaks of the complementarian roles of man and woman particularly in the local church.

And let me stress again, that the mindset isn’t that women cannot speak out loud during a church service, which is how some people have misused this text.

And the mindset isn’t that women can’t get involved in the church, but rather that there are certain roles given to men and certain roles given to women as reflected in creation and as reflected in the next chapter of 1 Timothy.

According to Paul, who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, women aren’t to teach men, neither are they to exercise authority over a man in the church setting.

Beyond this, there is no other prohibition for women serving within the church—or in other words, every other ministry that a church has is available for women to participate in and serve in—to say otherwise, simply isn’t true.

So, practically, what this means is this:

At church, women are allowed to read Scripture, pray out loud, serve in children’s, youth, and women’s ministry. They can be a part of the worship team, serve in mercy ministries, teach other women (in fact, that’s encouraged throughout the New Testament), and serve in any other capacity except teaching men and exercising authority over the men of the church.

In schools, in government, in any other type of organization leadership or business, women are more than able to teach and to exercise authority over men simply because these organizations aren’t churches.

This isn’t anti-feminist, this isn’t pro-man; this is simply how God has chosen for His church to function. To do otherwise simply disobeys what God has written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s letter to Timothy.

Women can serve in any ministry within a local church—except in teaching, preaching, and in authority over men—that is what God has said in His Word.

You need to serve, but be sure you’re serving according to God’s Word with the gifts that the Spirit has gifted you with.

Put simply, what we learn in 1 Timothy 2:8-15 is that (1) good work is better than flaunting yourself and (2) serving God needs to be done according to His Word—regardless of how we feel, regardless of what we think.

Following God’s ordained roles leads to blessing—disobeying what He has already said, tends to lead to destruction.

Pastoral Prayer

Prayer Requests

This is this week’s prayer requests:

Sean Herbst — Addiction

Pray for Alexus (Tom and Raenelle’s great niece) — struggling with seizures; pray for the doctors to have wisdom in how to best help her and pray for the family

Caleb Miller — Medical Issues

Alan Wisor — Medical Issues

Pray for the church’s building fund

Pray for the Dunlop Family, missionaries to France—they have approximately 95% of the funding that they need and they will be moving to France in May. We want to pray for them as they move, as they adapt to a new culture, and as they learn the French language.